Look for Ladybug in Plant City

⚠️ WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD ⚠️

Daisy’s pet Ladybird has decided to play a game of hide-and-seek. Daisy enlists the help of the best detective in Plant City, Basil, to help find him. They search the school, train station, museum, fun fair, restaurant, garden centre, a concert, hospital, riverbank and market. Along the way they find many other animals doing fun activities including a skateboarding crocodile and items such as a picture of a pineapple.

The illustrations were colourful and jam packed with activity. Kids will enjoy spending time searching the pages for animals doing cute and funny things. This book is the first in a planned series and it definitely has potential but I think it could have been more interactive.

I had expected the book to ask the reader/seeker to find more things. As the front cover boasts that there are over 500 things to find I was surprised that each scene only required on average three things to be found. Perhaps additional items to find could have been listed at the back of the book, along the lines of, “Well done! You’ve found Ladybird and some of the residents of Plant City. Can you also find ...” and then maybe list some more things to find in each scene.

I know kids can find their own items in the scenes and adults can ask a kid if they can see something but most of the fun of this sort of book is having a big list of items to find and then having the satisfaction of knowing where everything is in each scene.

While I liked the style of the illustrations there were a few animals I couldn’t identify. I’d be able to work around this with a child by asking them to find an animal of a certain colour doing a particular activity. I also would have liked a final page where Daisy and Basil actually find Ladybird. As it stands, ⚠️ Daisy wants to cry because she misses her pet so she and Basil try silly hats on to cheer themselves up so the story itself finishes on a bit of a downer. ⚠️

Helpful Hint: Just because Daisy and Basil can’t find Ladybird in each scene doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find him.

I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 if Goodreads allowed its users to cut stars in half but as they don’t I’ll round up to 4. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley (thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback.

Nice drawings and images, it is a fun book for children to read and find the different animals - 4 stars

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Before I start my review, I want to say that I wanted to rate this book 4.5 stars, but sadly, due to the abrupt ending, I am rating it 3.5 stars. If we do ever get a last page SPOILER ALLLLLLERTTTTTT!!!! with Ladybug found + happy reunion, and not, as it is now, that they just try out silly hats because eh, why not. SPOILER ALLLLLLERTTTTTT!!!! I really was sad that this was the ending, I was just scrolling and I was wondering why I didn't see the next page. Then I noticed the book was over. :| Not sure whose bright idea it was to end it on that note.

Now back to the story. Daisy and Ladybug are really close, but then all of the sudden... Ladybug goes missing! What a cheeky little bug that one is! She goes to meet Basil, the best detective in Plant City. And they are off to look for Ladybug. And of course, we the reader, are off to do that as well!

As you can find him everywhere. Every two pages is a new part of the city, and in every part you have to find the Ladybug. However this isn't too easy, as there are tons of things that looks similar to him (other bugs) or that are coloured the same way. I have to confess that in the beginning I didn't search for him, as the story stated our team didn't find him. I thought this meant he wasn't on these pages. It isn't a few pages later that I found Ladybug, while our team still was searching for him. And then I went back to look at the earlier pages and found Ladybug after a bit of searching. So don't give up when you can't find him, and also search from the beginning. :P

Of course there is tons more to do as each page holds several things that our team sees and which we as the reader can also look for. Things like hippos in ferris wheels, or gorillas with runny noses, anything is possible. Sometimes not easy to find, sometimes very easy. I did notice that, due to this being an ecopy, I eventually had a harder time to find as my eyes and head started to hurt.

The pages are delight to look at, you can see all sorts of things (which at times had me laughing as there was something silly or weird going on), and I just adore that the creatures are all coloured in an abundance of colours. From pink to green, anything is possible in this story.
The illustrator definitely did a wonderful job on the illustrations.

All in all, I still would recommend this book, but I do hope that the ending gets fixed. That would make this book even better.

A bright and vividly illustrated children’s book filled with pages of fun! This book is sure to be a favorite!

I loved this book: it’s a mystery and “Where’s Waldo” with a storyline! It would have been perfect, except I was unhappy with the ending.

Look for Ladybug in Plant City by Katherina Manolessou is a beautiful book. The colors are vibrant and there’s so much to look at. My students enjoyed this book and wanted more of it.  A lot of time could be spend going through a book like this since the detail details will most likely inspire children to ask questions about the content on the pages. Additionally, the little text segments on each page encourage to look for certain things, for example a picture of a pineapple or a taxi full of owls.

Daisy and Ladybug are really close, but Ladybug goes missing and this book is a story of finding Ladybug. Every two pages is a new part of the city, and in every part you have to find the Ladybug. However this can be challenging, as there are tons of things that looks similar to him or that are colored the same way.  

The pages are delight to look at, you can see all sorts of things, and I just adore that the creatures are all colored in an abundance of colours. From pink to green, anything is possible in this story. The illustrator definitely did a wonderful job on the illustrations.

I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing Group and Frances Lincoln Childrens via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I give this book 3.5/5 stars based on the fact the book has an abrupt ending.

This vibrant, engaging and detailed book will keep you and your little ones busy for hours hunting down the over 500 objects to look for. I looked at this first so I could guide my little one and became instantly engrossed in the small details and additional story line that I could pick up. My favourite must be the school, so many different ideas all on a double page spread. Although the main aim is to find Ladybug for Daisy the extra panel gives the re readability and then when your little one progresses the independent means to keep coming back to the book. My little one was spotted reading it to her dolls. Definitely recommended.

This is a beautiful search-and-find book for children. I really like this artistic style, too. I think that my younger students would enjoy this book!

Why DNF? (for now) I could not really read it because how it looked on adobe reader.  I am going to get it later from the library.
Liked: Cover